Alban Butler
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Alban Butler was an English Roman Catholic priest and hagiographer. Born in Northamptonshire, he studied at the English College in Douay, France, where he later taught philosophy and theology. He serv
The Lives of the Saints
Grand Tour
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The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient
Alban Butler
…in Northamptonshire, he studied at the English College in Douay, France, where he later taught philosophy and theology. He served as a guide on the Grand Tour to the nephews of the Earl of Shrewsbury. Upon his return in 1749, Butler was made chaplain to the Duke of Norfolk. He was appointed president of the…
c. 1750 painting of six British gentlemen in Rome while on the Grand Tour
Portrait of Francis Basset by Pompeo Batoni, 1778. The Grand Tourist, like Francis Basset, would become familiar with antiquities, though this altar is an invention of the painter.[citation needed]
A portrait of Douglas, 8th Duke of Hamilton, on his Grand Tour with his physician Dr. John Moore and the latter's son John. A view of Geneva in the distance, where they stayed for two years. Painted by Jean Preudhomme in 1774.
Northerners found the contrast between Roman ruins and modern peasants of the Roman Campagna an educational lesson in vanity (vanitas). Painting by Nicolaes Pietersz Berchem, 1661, Mauritshuis